PPA

In just 8 minutes, the Personal Profile Analysis (PPA) psychometric assessment will provide an accurate insight into how people behave at work, answering questions such as: what are their strengths and limitations? How do they communicate? Are they self starters? What motivates them?

Thomas' behavioural assessment PPA provides an accurate insight into how people behave at work, giving you a greater level of certainty when recruiting, identifying where to maximise your learning and development budget and understanding where to boost morale to avoid staff turnover.

It will also enable you to spend less time managing your underperformers and focus more time on those who will truly drive your business forward. Thomas PPA takes only 8 minutes to complete. You are then provided with an initial profile detailing a person’s strengths and limitations, their communication style, their value to the business, what motivates them, their basic fears and how they behave under pressure.

Once a PPA has been completed, you have instant access to 18 additional reports that enable you to match people to jobs, sift CVs, manage, coach, develop and train your people.

Test author: Thomas M. Hendrickson

Year of construction: 1958

Background and theory:

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Dr. Thomas Hendrickson developed William Moulton Marston’s DISC theory to produce the Thomas Personal Profile Analysis (PPA) for the work place.

Marston's original theory stated that actions based upon emotions are an individual's biosocial response to supportive or hostile social environments. These actions determine how the individual interacts with the environment. It was theorised that the way in which the individual interacts with the environment takes four basic directions: tendencies to dominate, influence, submit and comply. Marston published his book 'Emotions of Normal People' in 1928, which described his theory of human consciousness in comprehensive detail.

The PPA determines whether individuals see themselves as responding to workplace situations that they perceive to be favourable or challenging, and reveals whether their response patterns are active or passive; thus classifying the individual's behavioural preferences in terms of four domains: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance.

Format:

The Thomas PPA is a forced-choice instrument which uses an ipsative referencing method – an individual's response patterns are compared to themselves rather than the scores of a comparison group. Individuals are asked to select one adjective which they believe describes them most and one which describes them least.

In order to complete the PPA, individuals choose two trait adjectives from a block of four, one 'most like' and one ‘least like’ them. This process is repeated 24 times, giving 48 choices from a total of 96 words.

The PPA is available electronically via the web and in paper-and-pencil format. Thomas International has also developed the PPA+ format which is suitable for people with a reading age of 11+ and for candidates who are fluent in English but for whom English is not their first language.

Thomas International conducts on-going psychometric research with the PPA. We have previously collaborated with the Psychometrics Centre at Cambridge University .http://www.psychometrics.cam.ac.uk. Please get in touch with psychology@thomas.co.uk if you are interested in supporting our continuous development programmes.

The history of the Thomas Personal Profile Analysis (PPA)

DISC Theory

The Thomas PPA is grounded in the DISC theory created by William Moulton Marston (1893-1947). Marston published his theory in his book ‘Emotions of Normal People’ in 1928, which described his theory of human consciousness in comprehensive detail. (Reference: Marston, W. M. (1928) Emotions of normal people. New York: Harcourt, Brace)

Marston’s original DISC theory stated that actions based upon emotions are an individual’s biosocial response to supportive or hostile social environments. These actions determine how the individual interacts with the environment. It was theorised that the way in which the individual interacts with the environment takes four basic directions: tendencies to dominate, influence, submit and comply.

The Creation of the PPA

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Dr Thomas Hendrickson developed William Moulton Marston’s DISC theory to produce the Thomas Personal Profile Analysis (PPA) for the workplace. The PPA is a psychometric assessment of behaviour based on the four scales defined by Marston’s DISC model.

The PPA determines whether individuals see themselves as responding to workplace situations that they perceive to be favourable or challenging and reveals whether their response patterns are active or passive, thus classifying the individual’s behavioural preferences in terms of four domains: dominance, influence, steadiness and compliance, retaining the essence of Marston’s original model.

Validation of the PPA

The PPA has been extensively validated by Thomas International, both internally and in partnership with our academic advisors from Cambridge Psychometrics Centre and City University London.

PPA will give you an insight into your workstyle – what motivates you, your value to the business, and how you behave under pressure. It takes 8 minutes to complete and it’s one of the most accurate assessments around.

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Download a sample PPA report

Each Thomas assessment comes with a report, or set of reports which are easy to read, interpret and understand.

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